and the natural world Plants and People Chapter 8: Medicines Chapter 8: Medicines Context This material is part of a wider project on slavery and the natural world, carried out at the Natural History Museum, 2006–08. The information is based on documents held in the Museum’s libraries, and explores the links between nature (especially the knowledge, and transfer, of plants), people with an interest in natural history (mainly European writers from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries) and the history and legacies of the transatlantic slave trade1. More can be found in the original documents, written by natural historians at the time of slavery. Contact the Natural History Museum Library www. nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/library/ +44 (0) 20 7942 5000. The additional references section has other useful sources such as relevant articles, books, journals and websites. Please note that the information given is for historical interest only. The Natural History Museum cannot endorse any of the medicines, medical claims or advice given here. Do not take any medicines or treatments without first consulting a qualified practitioner. 1 For more background information see Chapter 1: The project. Chapter 8: Medicines Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Health problems (dysentery, tetanus, beriberi, malaria) 3 3. African traditions 5 3.1 Treatments for yaws (inoculation; Majoe bitters, Picramnia antidesma) 5 3.2 African healers (self-heal, Ruellia paniculata) 7 3.3 Kola (Cola nitida) 9 4. Other medicinal plants 10 4.1 Worm-grass (Spigelia anthelmia) 10 4.2 Fit weed (Eryngium foetidum) 11 4.3 Velvet leaf (Cissampelos pareira) 11 4.4 Allspice tree (Pimenta dioica) 12 4.5 Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) 12 4.6 Soursop (Annona muricata) 12 4.7 Aloe (Aloe vera) 13 4.8 Physic nut (Jatropha curcas) 14 4.9 Commercial plants (tobacco, sugar, cotton and hardwoods) 14 5. Alternative interpretations 16 6. Additional references 19 Chapter 8: Medicines 1. Introduction Plants played an important part in the health of African people. They were a staple part of their diet as well as supplementary foods to improve health, and herbal remedies were used to prevent and cure diseases. It is thought that African people may have taken some of their plants to the Americas when they were enslaved2. It is certain they used their knowledge of plants when they got there. Enslaved Africans saw the indigenous peoples of the Americas using tropical plants as medicines and there is evidence that African and indigenous peoples shared knowledge. European naturalists were eager to document the tropical plants and their uses and many relied on knowledge from African and indigenous American sources3. There are examples of many Europeans relying on traditional herbal cures administered by enslaved or indigenous people4 although some did not believe they worked. In general, enslaved and indigenous people rejected the main European treatments of the time, which were bleeding and purging5. At the time of the transatlantic slave trade Europeans were exploiting the natural resources of Africa and the Americas. Many plants were grown for large profits. There was also significant interest in finding and growing plants with medicinal properties. Many of the natural historians travelling abroad at the time were trained in medicine, especially in the use of plants as cures, and doctors also travelled on board slaving ships. There was often a European doctor working in the colonies to help keep enslaved Africans fit for work, although the reality was that much treatment was taken care of within the African communities themselves. Doctors also treated Europeans who were often affected by tropical diseases. A wide range of plants, such as aloes, okra and even cotton, was used to treat all sorts of illnesses such as water retention, piles and venereal diseases as well as to heal wounds. Herbal remedies were used against diseases, such as malaria, which particularly affected Europeans6. Africans also used inoculation as a form of prevention for diseases such as yaws (an infectious tropical disease). As well as using plants as cures, they were sometimes used as poisons to commit suicide or cause abortions7. There were very high death rates among enslaved Africans and Europeans, despite all the treatments used. 2. Health problems (dysentery, tetanus, beriberi, malaria) Africans, Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Americas all faced unfamiliar health problems at the time of the transatlantic slave trade. The movement of people and animals took diseases between countries. A poor diet would have contributed to enslaved Africans’ health problems8 as did overcrowding. Because of the dirty, cramped conditions (particularly 2 See also Chapter 9: Transfer and exploitation of knowledge. 3 See also Chapter 10: Attitudes and acknowledgement. African and indigenous peoples of the Americas were often less enthusiastic about adopting European practices, see Chapter 2: People and the slave trade. 4 See also Chapter 10: Attitudes and acknowledgement for examples of Europeans dismissing African and indigenous knowledge. 5 See Schiebinger, 2004, p80. 6 See Chapter 7: Fevers. 7 See Chapter 6: Resistance. 8 See Chapter 5: Diet and nutrition. 3 Chapter 8: Medicines on board the slaving ships) dysentery was one of the biggest killers. One doctor, Thomas Winterbottom, recommended that Europeans should learn more from west African remedies for dysentery: ‘But their most celebrated remedy, and one which deserves more particular attention from Europeans, is the bark of a large tree, called by the Foolas, bellenda; and by the Soosoos and Mandingoes, bembee; rondeletia Africana9. It is employed either in powder mixed with boiled rice, or is used in a strong infusion. This bark is an agreeable astringent, possessing somewhat of a sweetish taste. A quantity of this bark was sent to me at Free Town, from the Rio Nunez, where it had been used with very great success in an epidemic of dysentery which prevailed among the slaves in the factories of that river. I had not an opportunity of trying its effects in dysentery, as a case of that disease did not occur in the colony from the time I received the bark until I left the country; but in several instances of diarrhoea it shewed itself very effectual. After my arrival in London I gave some of it to my friend Dr. Willan, who made trial of it in agues, fevers, sore throat and dysentery, very much to his satisfaction.’ (Winterbottom, vol 2, 1803, p45–6) African children often suffered from tetanus (caused by bacteria entering cuts or wounds) and older people from beriberi or ‘dropsy’ (oedema – swelling and water retention often linked to heart failure and also one of the symptoms of beriberi)10: ‘But the greatest mortality among the Negroes in the West Indies arises from two other complaints; the one affecting infants between the fifth and fourteenth days after their birth, and of which it is supposed that one-fourth of all the Negro children perish. It is a species of tetanus, or locked jaw; but both the cause of it in these poor children, and the remedy, remain yet to be discovered. The other complaint affects adults, or rather Negroes who are past their prime. They become dropsical, and complain of a constant uneasiness in the stomach;’ (Edwards, vol 2, 1819, p166–7) Malaria and other tropical fevers were a particular problem for Europeans, but enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples were initially less affected11. Dirt eating was reported among enslaved communities and this concerned plantation holders12. It may have been caused by depression, but the planter Bryan Edwards wrote that enslaved people suffering from beriberi often ate dirt, which suggests it was a way of supplementing vitamins or minerals in the diet: 9 Rondeletia africana is now known as Crossopteryx febrifuga. 10 See also Chapter 5: Diet and nutrition. 11 See Chapter 7: Fevers. 12 See for example Walvin, 2001, p125–7. 4 Chapter 8: Medicines ‘They become dropsical, and complain of a constant uneasiness in the stomach; for which they find a temporary relief in eating some kind of earth. The French planters call this disease mal-d’estomac, or the stomach-evil. I have formerly heard of owners and managers who were so ignorant and savage as to attempt the cure by severe punishment; considering dirt-eating, not as a disease, but a crime. I hope the race [of savage owners] is extinct. The best and only remedy is kind usage and wholesome animal food; and perhaps a steel drink may be of some service. Of one poor fellow in this complaint, I myself made a perfect cure by persisting some time in this method.’ (Edwards, vol 2, 1819, p166–7) The psychological traumas of enslavement and dietary diseases were likely to cause mental health problems as well as physical illness. There is also evidence of suicide, which may be linked to this13. 3. African traditions Enslaved people had access to some European medicines and treatments (it was in their owners’ interests to get them fit and back to work as quickly as possible). But they often opted to use their own traditional remedies in preference to European treatments, especially to treat diseases with which they were already familiar such as yaws14. 3.1 Treatments for yaws (inoculation; Majoe bitters, Picramnia antidesma) Yaws is an infectious tropical disease caused by a spirochaete bacterium, Treponema pertenu. It enters through cuts in the skin, causing a large ulcer at the point of infection, and multiple other ulcers on the body. It also affects the joints and bones. Yaws affected many enslaved Africans in Africa and in the Americas. It is most common in areas of poverty, poor sanitation and overcrowding. A closely related bacterium, Treponema pallidum, causes syphilis. 13 See Chapter 6: Resistance.